And these vicissitudes come best in youth; For when they happen at a riper age,People are apt to blame the Fates, forsooth, And wonder Providence is not more sage.Adversity is the first path to truth: He who hath proved war, storm or womans rage,Whether his winters be eighteen or eighty,Has won the experience which is deemd so weighty. ByronDon Juan. Canto XII. St. 50.

A wretched soul, bruisd with adversity,We bid be quiet when we hear it cry;But were we burthend with like weight of pain,As much, or more, we should ourselves complain.Comedy of Errors. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 34.